Among some Japanese companies, people privately call the founder and president of God as God.Based on this tradition, as God's age increases, his sacred status has continued to rise, and people are increasingly thinking that he will never make mistakes.That's the case even when he started to make mistakes.
Not all founders are worthy of this title.But SoftBank's energy -based founder, and Masayoshi Son, also symbolized by the company, has experienced the risk of stopping the heartbeat, but also obtained an incredible return. It has been in Japan for decades.Was wrapped as God.He led and inspired people to be worshiped by people.Employees follow his guidance to the extreme and perform with unparalleled enthusiasm.Moreover, he also created a miracle and did not live up to his followers: he invested US $ 20 million in Alibaba, which is now worth about 140 billion US dollars, and is one of the greatest investments in the history of science and technology.
All this may help explain, why the biggest loss in the history of Softbank last week and the part he cherished the most cherished vision was crushed, Sun Zhengyi would compare himself to Jesus Christ.He told the surprised investor at the conference call, like the son of God, he was misunderstood.But he said that time shows the true value of his investment.
Sun Zhengyi's employees said that in the best case, the preparation of the quarterly profit report will show the most radical side of the second richest billionaire in Japan.The reports are carefully planned: he has a meticulous picture of pixels on the screen, and requires high -intensity rehearsal, which may continue for a whole day.In these cases, the word does not belong to his employee dictionary.
It's not the best situation now.New Corphor-pneumonia (COVID-19, which is the 2019 coronary virus) epidemic destroys life, enterprises and the entire business model.As far as Sun Zhengyi and SoftBank are concerned, the epidemic destroyed the pillar mdash; mdash; enthusiasm, optimism and charm.He sold unprecedented stock repurchase and commitment to $ 41 billion in assets, and successfully promoted the shares of SoftBank's stock price to rebound by 71%from the March low, far exceeding the performance of the benchmark Dongzi Index (Topix).But some investors said that magic is disappearing.SoftBank's ambitious $ 100 billion Vision Fund has a floating loss of $ 18 billion, mainly due to a significant loss of flagship investment in WeWork and Uber.
In a speech outside the conference call, Sun Zhengyi showed that the technology unicorn invested by SoftBank's investment in the mountain climbed a mountain.In the next slide, several of the unicorn broke the legs and fell to the bottom of the coronary virus.Sun Zhengyi promised that some unicorns will grow their wings and flew across the valley.However, he also predicts that 15 of the 88 startups invested by the Vision Fund will go bankrupt, and it is not ruled out that the possibility of more losses in the second wave of epidemic is not ruled out.He said: Looking forward to the future, no one knows what will happen.
Investors think he looks a little confused.Some people ask whether he still deserves the trust of many people.
Sun Zhengyi is the son of the second -generation Korean immigrant in Japan. He once refuted the suspicion.He encountered his current wife while studying at the University of California's University of California (Berkeley), and used the money from Sharp to sell the patent of electronic translation machines to create a Japanese Internet company.In the following decades, he made a series of dazzling transactions, including buying Alibaba in 1999 and the acquisition of chip manufacturers ARM Holdings for $ 31 billion in 2016.
Today, Sun Zhengyi, 62, is facing Elliot Management from the rights protection investor and other people to ask him to create miracles again.Sun Zhengyi has rushed all year round in Tokyo, Dubai, Silicon Valley and other places, and it has become a habit. He promised investors last week that he will be more cautious.This word alone mdash; mdash; it rarely associates with Sun Zhengyi mdash; mdash; it shows how serious the impact of this epidemic is.
This pressure is reflected in many aspects.After considering the privatization of SoftBank in March this year, Sun Zhengyi was persuaded by his executives to consider selling assets, including T-Mobile US, Alibaba and SoftBank's domestic telecommunications business.Jack MA, the intimate ally and the founder of Alibaba, has resigned from SoftBank's board of directors. This is the third high -profile director who has lost Softbank in recent months.The vision fund led by the former Deutsche Bank trader Rajeev Misra also showed unstable signs of vision funds.Vision Fund implanted internal confrontation into its DNA.This approach may work before, but it is not suitable for this strange moment now.We know that there are many people who want to leave there.A SoftBank's external consultant said.
Those close to Sun Zhengyi said that the epidemic left him a deeper personal mark.As the father of two daughters, he became a anti -nuclear activist after the disaster of Fukushima Daichi in 2011.After three years of silence, he now returns to Twitter. When he did not have a video conference with his subordinates, he spent a lot of private time on looking for masks and protective clothes for front -line doctors.
For some investors, it is not worthy to compare Jesus, but this also makes people see a person who has always rely on consumers and investors to recognize its grand vision.The success of his next action may depend more on his leadership ability, not his skills to do transactions.This may force him to take back all the control of the Vision Fund.Since 2013, COMGEST, the investment group manager of COMGEST, Richard Kaye, who has been SoftBank's shareholder; Richard Kaye said: Some people may say that Sun Zhengyi has gone too far.If Sun Zhengyi intervenes more, it will be positive.
On the first day when the historic $ 13 billion losses, the humble God wrote on Twitter: The reason for the failure lies in me, not the outside world.If I don't admit this, there is no way out.
Translator/Pei Pan
